needle & thREAD

Last week I finally got some sewing machine time in!  Nothing earth shattering, but something that had been on the want to do list for a long time.

Even though I have been sewing for years, I am not fast, and if I don't follow some sort of pattern or instructions, I always make some sort of stupid mistake.  It never fails!  Thankfully, it was easily fixed and did not ruin the project or waste a lot of fabric.  If Callie would have been willing to carry a bag with one side having upside down fabric, it would have been fine! LOL

I think to date, this has been my only totally impulsive, "I have to have that fabric", "I have no idea what I'm going to do with it", fabric purchase.  Even though I have felt that way a few times, I usually get over it quickly.  But when I saw this fabric here I knew Callie and I needed that London fabric.  We ordered three of these.  We each wanted a bag and I thought an apron would be really cute too.

thank you to Callie for the photos

Callie loves her bag and I'm going to start mine soon.  I needed more fabric for the pattern I chose though and it should be here today or tomorrow.

I've been finishing Give Them Grace and I picked up An Everlasting Meal at the library after reading about it here.  It's very interesting.  I wouldn't say I am as enthusiastic about it as some, I'm a little picky about combinations.  Like a poached egg on top of a salad is not my thing! I do like eggs and I do like salad, just not together!  But I do love reading about food and recipes and cooks and there is a lot to learn here about cooking in general and this woman throws away nothing!  Always a good thing to learn.

Rearranging

We've done quite a bit of rearranging since Christmas.

Originally, it was to be able to have the Christmas tree where we wanted it, but it opened up the room so much I wanted to keep it that way.  The TV is a little awkward, but we are trying to keep that activity to a minimum anyway.

The other project has been on someone's mind for a while now, but the grown ups in the house had to be talked into it.  Once I was convinced that giving the girls their own room wouldn't ruin their relationship for life, I was excited about the idea.  It looks great and it is really so much better for the way they play together and separately.  And Kate is a very neat little girl!  Who knew?

don't even think about rearranging these things or laying laundry on there to be put away!

There is no wall at the top of the steps.  At some point I am sure we will add one, but for now I like the open feeling that the room has.  I also love having an out of the way place to hang these quilts that Cameron's grandmother made.  The girls use them to sleep with sometimes and then when not in use we hang them on the stair rail.

I have no idea why these pictures are fuzzy.  I probably should have let Callie take them!

Callie's room still needs a little tweaking.  We will take pictures of her room when it's all ready.

Out of the Mouth of Kate

The girls and I were all in one bed the other night for a little "sleepover" together.  Kate had several stuffed animals with her and Callie was bugging Kate in some way, probably tickling or something, I can't remember now.  Anyway, Kate said to Callie, "If you don't stop my animals are going to attack you!"  Her face was so serious, but not mean.  I cracked up!  It was probably the lack of sleep, but it just struck me as very funny.

Tonight, on the way home from ballet, Kate asked me something that was really funny and now, for the life of me, I cannot remember.  I even thought to myself how cute that would be for the blog.  And now.....Nothing!

This is what happens when you home school.  They suck your brains!! LOL

January 22 Daybook

I've seen this format on a few other blogs that I read and thought I would try it.  I have no idea where the idea originated.

{Outside My Window} It is 4 degrees outside.  No, that is not a typo.  4!!

{I Am Thinking}  That's it's too cold to do anything but snuggle on the couch with good books and hot chocolate!  Also about a very good book that I am reading.  More details when I finish it, but Give Them Grace by Elyse Fitzpatrick & Jessica Thompson is an amazing book!  Every parent needs to read this book.

{In the Kitchen}  We made gluten free chocolate cupcakes, gluten free pretzel dots, and then I made gluten filled macaroni and cheese from scratch a la Martha Stewart!  Kate had the gluten free boxed variety which she says is better anyway! LOL  I would have agreed with her at her age.

{I Am Thankful For}  Heat!  Also, for a nice celebration of Kate's birthday with family on Saturday.  The weather was mild and sunny and everyone had a great time.

{I'm Creating} Other than the birthday party decorations not much of anything.  I am working on a hat from Purlbee.com, but no pictures yet.  I have lots of things in my mind that I want to sew.  I'm hoping for some extended sewing time in a couple of weeks.

{I Am Praying For} That the next two weeks go quickly!  And for my friend Joanna.  She and her children have had many health challenges over the years.  Sometime things get better for a while only to start up again.  Right now she needs a lot of wisdom and strength from the Lord.  Not to mention healing for the whole family.

{Around the House} We cleaned up all the party evidence and now it's just trying to maintain.  I did find a really pretty light fixture at Goodwill, but I'm not sure it will fit.  We'll see.  We did some rearranging too that I'll have to show you soon.

{Plans For the Rest of Week} Ballet, a trip to the library and a visit with friends.

{One of My Favorite Things} Cell phones.  Makes missing someone a little more bearable.


{In the School Room}  Nothing too exciting.  Callie and I are enjoying our time reading Winning His Spurs.  She was sure it was going to be "boring".  I love it when she's wrong! :)  Kate has decided that maybe this reading business isn't too bad after all.  Last week at the library she was trying to read the covers of the smutty novels that were next to the Fiction section where I was looking for something.  Very funny!

{Pictures}  More birthday party photos

It was such a wild party, Uncle Steve needed a nap!

"I've been wanting a watch!"

the whole gang

Stay warm! If you are living where it's nice and sunny and warm....well, I don't know what to say to you.;)

{This Moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Visit SouleMama for more

Seven!

Happy Birthday Kate!!!

My heart is so full of thoughts that I'm not going to try to get them out into words that make sense or risk going on and on and on.  We love you and hope you have the greatest 7th birthday ever!

A Winter Walk

For the longest time I have wanted to go for a walk in the woods when it was snowy.  There is a park not too far from us that has trails and a nature center and a large body of water that I have imagined would be so beautiful covered in snow.  Usually when it snows here though, the temps take a significant dive, the wind starts blowing like a hurricane and I don't leave the house unless I have to.  By the time it warms a little I've usually forgotten about it.




Not this time though.  Well, the temps did take a dive for a few days, but today it was 47 or so and the sun was shining bright.  A lot of snow had melted here at our house, but with rain coming and who knows what kind of temps next week, I just couldn't shake the feeling that it may be "now or never" for a nice hike.

 

I was not disappointed and even someone who was a bit reluctant was very glad that we went.  The pictures really don't show how beautiful the sun was shining through the trees and reflecting off of the ice.  Not sure if it's my picture taking abilities or what, but just trust me, it was beautiful!

I think there were four deer, but I didn't want to get any closer.  Callie was very close and probably got some great pictures, but she's in bed and I don't know where her camera is. :) 

 Very sweet moment when Kate says "Let's hold hands.  Mommy, take our picture."

Sometimes it's hard to get back into a rhythm after the holidays, but you know you have no choice.  This was a really good outing for us at just the right time.  I'm very grateful for His blessings.

Finally!

Kate finally lost her first tooth tonight.  While eating peanut butter toast.  She almost ate it!
She didn't get her first tooth until she was 11 months old, so she hadn't had any loose ones yet.  All of the sudden one day I noticed she had a new tooth coming in behind the baby tooth so we started wiggling it a lot to help it get out of there.

She's very excited.  I could hardly get her to hold still while I took a picture.

Welcome Home

Well this is old news now.  I meant to post it last week, but didn't get to it and Callie insists that it is not too late.  The pictures are too pretty.

We love our family, but we have to admit that we were a little excited to get home and see how much snow we had.  (It wasn't as much as the media made it out to be)  It rained all through Mississippi, Tennessee and into Kentucky.  It was dry all through southern Indiana, then our last two hours on the road it poured SNOW!  The roads were a little tricky because it was falling so fast and the flakes were huge.  Cameron always does such a good job driving in it.  Even though I have to say be careful about every 20 minutes, he's very patient with me.  It was absolutely beautiful to watch.

The two pictures above were taken by Callie on the way to a friends house.

Snow just makes everything beautiful.  Crisp and white and clean.

{This Moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Visit SouleMama for more

45!!!

HAPPY  BIRTHDAY  TO  MY  VERY  BEST  FRIEND!

We love you very much!!

Yarn Along

I enjoyed knitting this pattern for my mom so much that I decided to make one for myself also. The pattern is easy, but interesting and the yarn is so soft.  I used Malabrigo superwash.  I really enjoyed making these.  It was a great way to pass the time in the car on our way to Mississippi.

It's so nice to have a personal photographer.  Thank you Callie ;)

You should see the stack of books I have!  I don't know why I check all these books out at one time.  I gave up on two and returned them already.  I took a few with me on our trip since I couldn't decide, but I mostly ended up reading one in particular. 

Call The Midwife.  I had not seen the show, so wasn't sure what to expect, but a friend said the book was really good.  I have never before felt such a range of emotions while reading one book.  There was laughter, sympathy, anger, disgust, sorrow and then thankfully more laughter.  I loved the book until the middle.  I was going to let Callie read it.  Until I got to the chapter where the author meets a woman trying to get out of prostitution.  Not only is it horribly sad, but she goes into great detail about what this woman saw and experienced.  I sort of wish I had known about this part of the book before hand and Callie certainly won't be reading it any time soon.  I did enjoy the rest of the book, there were other parts that were truly a joy to read. 

Joining Ginny and hoping to check out all those links with a tall cup of hot chocolate later tonight.